Alceste

Alceste was the second of Gluck’s so-called reform operas written in reaction to the complexity and florid musical style of Italian opera seria. Its first performance in Vienna in 1767 was a great success, and 10 years later Gluck revised it for the French stage. This 1776 version was so extensively remodelled that the Italian and French versions are in effect distinct operas. The central theme of both is self-sacrifice. The King of Thebes, Admetus, is dying and will only live if someone takes his place. His wife, Alcestis, sacrifices herself, and Admetus duly recovers. Ultimately, though, the gods take pity and restore Alcestis to life and to a happy reunion with Admetus. The overture is one of the earliest to set the mood for a tragic drama—one of Gluck’s key reforms outlined in the preface to the score. Despite the raw, bold power of the Italian version, the French revision is perhaps the finer achievement, preferred for performance today because it retains nearly all the best music of the Italian original and adds considerably to it. The revised score has a more continuous and fluid texture, with all the recitatives orchestrally accompanied. Above all, it presents the two principal characters with greater humanity. Admetus is more central to the drama, and Alcestis turns from a rather formal queen into a real wife—one of Gluck’s greatest heroines.